Wayne Gilbert runs the G-Gallery in Houston, Texas. Whilst being at the gallery he invited to see his studio and artwork (the pictures below are cut-outs, not whole pieces). The sand-coloured areas are human ashes mixed with resin gel. It is strange what a large area you could cover with the ashes of one adult, who was cremated and left - no one came to pick her or him up - at the funeral home (...I'd like to think they had already said their goodbyes). Anyhow. Seeing these works and knowing what they are made from made me remember an earlier discussion Ive had with myself: Concerning aura, or, whatever you'd prefer to call it; the question being:
Would we have felt the presence of the dead (that is so intense once you know it) in Gilbert's work if we weren't told about it? Given a human scull and a perfect replica, would we be able to tell? Would we feel aura, the presence of the past, death and lives lived like our own? (This of course raises the question of what a "perfect" replica is, ie replicating texture, almost undetectable smells etc - since obviously, if we COULD tell a difference, it might be just because of that almost undetectable odour).
I guess I'd like to think that we could tell a difference. That its not only the knowledge about something that makes us react (and if so, do we react physically because of the knowledge, as a reaction, in the same way as "the brain can't tell the difference between an image of a coffecup and an actual coffeecup". Is this the same? Does the image of the coffeecup correspond to knowledge? The idea of the coffecup? The word "coffeecup" written on a paper?).
Holding an object, what do we react on? The surface? The texture? Does texture remind us of time? Weight? Smell? Because we DO react on objects! AND we definitely react to the knowledge about objects. Is it possible that in our culture we are becoming less capable of processing/understanding the physical information about the objects that our bodies provides us, or that we simply don't listen to it (because objects are abundant and disconnected with spiritual purposes?)? That we easier can grasp value through attached knowledge because of today's emphasis on rationalism?
I guess it still doesn't answer my question though.
Houston
14-05-08
